This N That

Monday I went to the doc to have my bandage changed, and while I had hoped to convince him to remove the sutures in my foot, I will have to wait another week. Note to self, work on powers of manipulation, cast magic manipulation spells, and perhaps sex up requests using the word 'please'. Yeah, that's the ticket.

While in Rome, we checked out the new Cycle Therapy bike store. They've moved to the center of town and are sponsoring a local Sprint Triathlon, the second annual Navigator Triathlon to support Cancer patients in our area . Kate and Jon have decided to attempt the triathalon in September, so it should be a lot of fun to watch. Skyguy might even try it. I can't because my foot won't be well enough to train in time for the event. This is an abbreviated competition consisting of a 500 meter swim, a 12 mile bike ride, and a 3.1 mile run.

http://www.navigatortriathlon.com/

It's being held at a nearby state park. We are already riding 12 miles over hilly terrain, so that would be the 'easy' part for us. Running would be the hardest leg, and these races are almost always won on the run. A good runner can make up for being a mediocre swimmer. Skyguy and I decided it would be a lot of fun to complete one of these things, but we would have to take it slow and train well, making sure not to overtrain and risk injury. Neither of us deals well with high impact activity like running, so it would be a risky venture, but don't you think it would be a cool thing for a couple of geezers like us to do? I do! Anyway, we went to the bike store to look at road bike tires and I noticed that they had all of their womens apparel half off. I'd been looking for a pair of riding shorts since before we went on vacation. They are padded, and wick moisture away from the body. The tight fit compresses muscles, reducing recovery time and bruising. I'd been looking at the various styles of riding shorts, but finding them in my size is daunting. I'm still overweight, and in case you had not noticed, most serious cyclists are rail thin. Usually I see Small and X-Small, maybe a Medium, but nothing designed by Omar the Tentmaker. However, I suppose it was my lucky day at Cycle Therapy as I found a skort in an XL that will be great for riding. (I'm 5'11 and 190#) It is a Shebeest Cycloskort like the one on this page:

http://www.bikesomewhere.com/bikesomewhere.cfm/product/391/3743/31592

Don't freak on the price...no way I could afford that, and I paid less than half of that price. Anyway, for a woman of my age and shape, I think this was a good choice in shorts. If I had to, I could swim in it as well. But for now, I can't ride or swim or run. I can do tai chi though. The doc said I could ride a stationary bike on Monday. Woot!

Tuesday, in addition to my David Carradine Tai Chi tape exercise 'workout', I clipped more herbs from the herb garden and hung them to dry. I harvested some more oregano and marjoram, as well as lemon balm and horehound. I also tore up and jarred up some mullein that was dry. After washing and hanging the clippings, I decided to make a cough syrup from the fresh horehound. I stripped the leaves and buds from the stems and put it in the food processor to chop it and bruise the leaves. I probably had 2 cups of crushed horehound leaves and 1/2 c of mullein leaves. Both are expectorants. Then, I added it to about a cup of lemon juice and a bit of water. I brought the concoction to a boil, then allowed it to steep for a few minutes. I separated the plant matter out by straining it, and then added 2 cups of locally produced honey to the 'tea'. When the time comes to use it, I'll probably doctor it up with cayenne pepper and garlic, too, depending on how I feel. Adding some dried lemon balm might make it taste better, too. Horehound is good for making cough drops, too, but I don't have a candy thermometer at present and I did not feel like standing at the stove all day. Mullein is a great herb that grows wild almost everywhere. Not only is is a good expectorant, but it is good for the respiratory system in general. It can be smoked in a pipe to counter asthma or pneumonia. Some companies use it in their herbal cigarettes, replacing tobacco.Its tall yellow flower spikes and fuzzy leaves make it easily visible on roadsides for wild collecting. These pages have a lot of good info on mullein, but they are by no means complete:

http://www.herbcraft.org/mullein.html
http://www.prodigalgardens.info/march%20weblog.htm

While I am no expert, I do consider myself somewhat of an herbalist. Additionally, while I would not characterize myself as a person of faith, I do believe that there is great wisdom in the Bible. I found this quote from Psalms: "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man" Psalms 104:14a Pretty cool. I really like the Psalms. Another of my favorites is: "The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display His marvelous workmanship." (Ps. 19:1,2)

Yesterday, my friend Ava and I picked the last of the blackberries from Patch #1 on the mountain, and we both ended up getting chiggers for our trouble. New bites, and I still have sores from the last time I picked berries before my surgery. I did get enough berries for a cobbler or pie, but there is yet another patch, my Secret Patch, of blackberries to pick, and hopefully I can get another quart or two. It has been so dry lately that the yellow jackets are sucking the juice from the berries. I'll need to start picking blueberries soon before the wasps suck them dry, too.

Speaking of berries, I got about a quart of strawberries from my plants yesterday as well, and we enjoyed them mixed with some sugar and a few blueberries over angel food cake last night. Berry good!

It's All Good

The Fourth of July has come and gone. The year is flying by. Like many of you, I had a very nice family cookout for the holiday. My foot is good-I must say this is the easiest surgery I've ever had, and I can't wait until the stitches come out and until I can get it wet. I long to take a shower again, but I suspect it might be another week before that happens. This afternoon, the doctor called me to check on my recovery. That was definitely a WOW moment as they just don't do that anymore. So, if you need a good foot and ankle surgeon in the Rome, GA area, I can provide a recommendation!

Bingo is wonderful still, he hasn't chewed anything he shouldn't, and he is just all puppy. You remember in Charlotte's Web that Charlotte wrote 'Some Pig' in her web to tout the specialness of her friend, well, here, I write "SOME DOG" for the same reason. Day before yesterday, he helped
my daughter and I catch some chickens and put them back in the run. He herded/chased the chickens around the perimeter right into my hands. When I caught the bird, I continued to hold it at Bingo's level, and he just sniffed the bird and did not try to bite it or act aggressively at all. This was very surprising considering what a rambunctious pup he is. I read into this that Bingo has excellent herding instincts, not so aggressive as to hurt stock, but aggressive enough to install fear in the animal. His eyes are very different than Bear's eyes. Bear has normal dark brown doggie eyes, but Bingo's eyes are more hazel, a weird light brown color that is more piercing and intense. I hope they don't change as he ages. I like his eyes. Jordan loved him, too. She could say his name and sing the melody for the song, and by the end of their visit, she was telling him "No!" so that he would not jump on her. After she got tough, he did not jump on her anymore.

Today it is raining-the first rain here since June 4. It is not raining much, but it is a slow, light rain and that is the best thing for the garden. Yesterday, Skyguy reinforced the pier under one of our rainwater tanks, so it is filling up again. The support pier is made of scrap 4x4's and 2x8/2x10's on the side. Over time, some of the joints had weakened and the tank and pier had started to lean. If we have a good downpour of hard rain, it can fill in about 15 minutes but since we only have a light rain, it might take all day, if it fills at all. We use rainwater for watering the garden as well as for watering birds that are kept in the old coop (roosters or turkeys or whatever). The purpose of the pier is to elevate the 350 gallon tank to provide head for gravity flow to the garden.

Also of note this weekend are a couple of more Facebook reunions with college friends. I am glad to be back in touch with Donna and Susan. I am fortunate to have such good friends-to know so many who are "good people", people who have huge hearts and work for the benefit of others.

I Survived

I survived my bunionette surgery (a bunionette is on the pinky toe whereas a bunion is on the big toe) and while it is only the second day, I can say this is the easiest surgery I have ever had. They gave me two Xanax, be even so, I was awake and conscious the whole time. I think taking RA meds has increased my tolerance for pain medication. I told the Doc while he was cutting on my foot that I've be drunker after two glasses of wine...lol...It did not hurt, but I could feel things, like the vibration from whatever kind of grinding tool that was and of course the numbing injections. Oh, and he let me keep the bony parts he removed. Part of it was ground off and lost, of course, but he even told me how I could permanently save it. (Bleach it, dry it, drill it, cord it for a necklace or charm...LOL. The largest chunk of bone is still rather small, about half an inch square, so probably a charm would work better than a necklace. I came home and slept about an hour and half-maybe the Xanax finally kicked in, then got up for dinner and to take a pain pill, which I did not feel that I needed, but was coerced into taking because the local anesthetic had not worn off. I can bear weight and all I need is a surgical shoe. It is a pain though because I can only be up for 5 minutes every 30 minutes and the rest of that time my foot has to be elevated. There are so many things I want to do and need to do that 5 minutes just isn't long enough. At bedtime, I took my normals meds and no Lorset/hydrocodone for pain. It really did not hurt that bad. However, I woke up at 4 am and felt it, so Skyguy went for the pills. It says to take it every 3 hours, but I just don't to be all doped up with a new puppy. He's very sweet, but has still bonded to Bear more than to Skyguy and I. I'm hoping to remedy that today by leaving Bear crated more and letting the boys outside to walk, poop, and play at different times. Bear still continues to amaze me with the abuse that Bingo dishes out. He will tolerate it, then finally, after 30 minutes or so of a seemingly endless barrage, Bear will snap and get serious, but then, a minute later, it is like he feels guilty to he initiates the play, and of course the cycle begins again. They do love each other, and Bingo had parked himself with Bear in Bear's crate a couple of times. Now, I make them both sit in front of the crates and say Bear Go Bear Crate, Bingo Go Bingo Crate. It is too cute.

At any rate, I have to be careful until my stitches come out in two weeks. I have 20 or so in 3 layers. 2 will dissolve on the inside, 9 in the middle layer, and 9 larger stitches on the outside. The incision is about 2 inches long. The good thing about being awake is that you can see what it looks like before the bandages go on! I'll get the bandages changed on Monday. It really hasn't been bad at all so far, but it is going to drive me crazy to stay off it and not exercise. I want to ride my bike so badly! But for now, we are all resting.